Rope sling



Aug. 21, 1934. A.VJ. MORGAN ROPE SLING Filed July 23, 1952 Patented Aug. 21, 1934 UNETED STATES ROPE SLING Archibald J. Morgan, Trenton, N. J., assignor to John A. Roeblings Sons Company, Trenton, N. 3., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 23, 1932, Serial No. 624,234

4 Claims.

This invention relates to rope slings and thimbles therefor, and especially to wire rope slings such as are used with a coupler for handling large containers in freight transport, although adapted also for smaller and diiierent work.

The invention consists in a novel arrangement of rope sling and thimble such that the ropes of the sling may be properly and readily adjusted at any desired angle without undue bending of the sling ropes.

The invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application and showing the invention applied in its preferred form, with an adjustable coupler of a known type, and the features forming the invention then specifically pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawing,--

Figure 1 is a plan view of the sling and coupler;

Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view of the thimble and sling ropes in the same position as shown in Figure 1 and showing another adjusted position of the ropes in dotted lines;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section looking upward on the line 4 of Figure 2.

In the drawing, A is the coupler made adjustable by telescoping side bars 10 secured in adjusted position by rivets 1 and having at its corners drop hooks 11 for attachment of the container or other load. At each corner of the coupler is pivotally attached one end of one of the sling ropes, two continuous sling ropes 12, 13 being used to form the sling and the two sling ropes are connected and provided with suspending means by the thimble 14.

The thimble 14 consists of the suspending ring 2 grooved on its upper side to receive the two ropes 12, 13, these ropes being held in position by the top ties 3 crossing the rope groove and by the bottom flanges 4 flaring outwardly from the lower part of the thimble so as to provide for a smooth curve of the ropes and hold them in position. The ropes are shown as held in a single groove in the thimble but it will be understood that a separating wall may be used to divide the groove into separate grooves for the two ropes, as is common in such double slings. The usual stops 5 on the ropes below the flanges 4 are shown, but these are not essential to the invention.

The holding flanges 4, instead of being flared outwardly only in the line of the rope run over the thimble, are flared outwardly in a considerable are around the thimble, and are shown as flared in substantially a complete circle so as to form with the lower end of the suspension ring two substantially conoidal openings for each pair of the rope ends issuing from the thimble 14, so that the ropes 12, 13 may be swung over these flared flanges to run in any direction required by the adjustment of the coupler A, without any bend of the ropes other than smooth bends over the flare of the flanges 4. Preferably, the flanges 4 are made to merge at the center into the ring at 6, for lightness of the thimble, but it will be understood that the flanges may otherwise be merged into each other.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the solid type of thimble shown, but any other suitable form of solid or split thimble may be used.

What is claimed is:

1. A rope sling having a plurality of continuous ropes, in combination with a thimble over which the ropes run comprising a suspending ring over which the ropes run in parallel, and flared guiding and holding flanges forming with the suspending ring a substantially conoidal passage on each side of the ring to receive both ropes from the suspending ring and permit wide divergence of the ropes without undue bending.

2. The combination with a polygonal coupler of a rope sling comprising a pair of continuous ropes having their ends attached to said coupler, a thimble over which the ropes run comprising a suspending ring over which the ropes run in parallel, and flared guiding and holding flanges forming with the suspending ring a substantially conoidal passage on each side of the ring through which the paired ropes issue from said thimble to permit wide divergence of the ropes from the suspending ring without undue bending.

3. A rope sling thimble having a suspending ring grooved for a plurality of sling ropes in parallel and having guiding and holding flanges for the ropes forming with the suspending ring a substantially conoidal passage on each side of the ring through which said ropes issue to permit wide divergence of the ropes from the ring without undue bending.

4. The combination with a polygonal coupler formed of bars adjustable in length to vary the coupler dimensions, of a sling comprising a pair of continuous ropes having their ends secured to the opposite ends of the coupler, in combination with a thimble over which the ropes run in parallel comprising a suspending ring and flared guiding and holding flanges forming with the suspending ring a substantially conoidal passage in each side of the ring through which the paired diverging ropes issue from said thimble to permit changes in the divergence of said ropes without undue bending when required by adjustment of said coupler.

ARCHIBALD J. MORGAN. 

